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12 December 2010

I had two plans for Saturday. One, wanted to run the midnight marathon which was held at Whitefield Bangalore and second, wanted to attend the Kala Madhyam Folk & Tribal Art & Craft exhibition 2010. After lot of debate, dropped the plan of running the midnight marathon and planned to attend the Kala Madhyam exhibition.

I could watch Sutrada Gombe Aata (String Puppet Show) and Folk Songs from Marga Jyothi Welfare Trust for Blind. I got to shop beautiful silver-bronze jewellery... :-) There was a Painting Exhibition and Photography exhibition too.

Sunday 12th December is the last day of this event. You can bargain well here but keep in mind the artist’s effort when you bargain. :)

Have a look on few of the pictures of the event.

Folk Songs from Marga Jyothi Welfare Trust for Blind...

Art of Ajanta on a clay pot..

This is the necklace I got for myself. :-)

Update:
Kala Madhyam 2012 is going on for three days at Chitra Kala Parishat from May 31st 2012 to June 02nd 2012. I had been there yesterday. They have nice collections, i got few items from the Chettinad antic shop. Also, this year there's a stall from an NGO: Concern India Foundation - Pause for a cause in the gallery area. There's variety of traditional and contemporary sarees and salwars on display.

5 October 2010

It's been long time; I haven't posted anything over here. I guess, my new job is keeping me busy or the distance I travel was eating up all the spare time. Hehe...

Here's something what I faced today. For some reasons, the Volume Control icon was missing from my Task bar. I started troubleshooting and opened the Control Panel > Sounds, Speech, and Audio devices > Sounds and Audio devices. This particular screen was disabled.

To troubleshoot further, I did the following:

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Volume Control

I received the following message:

"There are no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, Go to Control Panel and Other Hardware, and then click ADD HARDWARE."

I tried to Add Hardware, but I didn’t know if I should select existing hardware or add a new hardware. I skipped that process and did the following:

15 August 2010

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again." - - Jawaharlal Nehru (Speech on Indian Independence Day, 1947)

Happy 64th Independence Day to all…

Let’s make this Independence day "plastic free". Today, when I was back from Total, I was observing little boys and girls at the traffic signal with plastic flags. Let’s not buy plastic flags and encourage everyone in buying cotton tri-colour flags.

20 July 2010

Cabinet have approved the symbol for Indian Rupee recently. Have we started using this symbol or should we wait till Unicode approves the rupee symbol globally. I guess we should start using this symbol. To get into all the PC’s and Keyboards, Fordian Technologies have worked on unique font for Indian Rupee symbol. I just installed this font on my system and it worked. See how it works.

5 July 2010

I wanted to go out somewhere yesterday, somewhere outside Bangalore...to a quiet place where there's no commotion...most likely a village. I had been to a late night show of Rajneethi on Saturday, so…was very lazy to wake up early in the morning.

I left my house around 12.00 PM for the long drive. We had not planned a destination so our motive was to have a homely mutton curry lunch. As we started, from Silk Board onwards the traffic was horrible being Sunday and lunch time. Till we reached Nice Road the traffic part was annoying and I was losing my patience. Not only because of the traffic, it's because the impatient people were honking with the pesky horns endlessly. People honk in such a way that the people driving in front of him will head-in-the-clouds and give him space to move. I literally did regret for coming out from home and thought I would have had a relaxing day if I cooked from home and had my lunch.

The other day, a Traffic Police near Bellandur Signal was yelling at the people that they need to learn the traffic rules. Yes, in Bangalore people need to learn the traffic rules and ethics on roads.

The traffic bummer was over and we were having our joy ride in Nice Road. It was then I felt it's a pleasant day only until a truck driver passed very close to us in such a speed that we had almost escaped an accident. But the truck driver wouldn't be sparred. His details will definitely reach the RTO office and the officials will take the required action.

When we reached the end of the Nice Road, the temple jatra/festival was going on in a temple there. Seeing the set-up, the thought what came to my mind is: This is what we came in search for. You know what, the people had set tents and each family of that village was preparing mutton curry lunch. I really wanted to go there sit with them and have that mutton curry lunch. But then, we din't want to disturb them in their celebration. We came further, we could not find the kind of village food we expected but we had our lunch in one of the normal hotel called “TAJ” in Ramanagar where you could find normal food.

A few kilometres from there, you will find Hotel Kamath and Jana Pada Loka. We headed towards 'Jana Pada Loka - Folk-Culture World' where you get to see the objects used by the rural people, rare collections of folk instruments and idols which are diminished and we seldom get to see. I was so excited to see the varieties which I've seen in my childhood alas I don't find them anywhere in my village now.

Jana Pada Loka is 53 Kms from Bangalore. There are several blogs on this place and you can visit the official website of Jana Pada Loka for more information: http://www.janapadaloka.org/

We had evening tea at Kamath hotel, you get awesome food here. You need to wait for long time, if you’re visiting this place at peak hours.

On our way back, it was the same traffic story which started from Bidadi till Sarjapur. One cannot escape Bangalore no matter what time of the day you travel. Bangalore has unparalleled traffic congestion and chaos. Traffic will be there, everywhere any part of the world. But, we all can help the traffic controllers and to the environment, by contributing our bit... little patience so that you won't start to honk or rush your vehicle...leaving few minutes early so that you won't have to speed up more than the average speed...managing difficult conditions with carefulness. You have a License to drive. Use it wisely.

22 June 2010

I was preparing my dinner at night yesterday. My room mate enters the kitchen searching some vessels and she moves out silently and calls me out. Without questioning I walk out and she says there's a snake down in the kitchen, let's run out of the house. Without looking here or there, we just run out of the house, intimating the owner that there's a snake. We run towards the security and the security wouldn't believe. How a snake will enter your house? He asks me, did you see the snake. Well, I din't see the snake. But my room mate says, she feels like she saw a snake like creature. The security ignores again, but we approach the watch man nearby and told him the same. A neighbour along with the watch man, enters the house, they search entire kitchen and not able to find the snake. But my room mate, is somehow not satisfied and she is not willing to enter the house without confirming there's no snake.

We called the snake catcher Hariharan (9886357110, 9880072276) who stays at Marathahalli. He says, he is partying with his friends and he will come only if we see the snake again.

We entered the house, not much exploring any part of the house. Scared if the snake comes from anywhere inside the house. And then, I somehow thought i'll have my dinner and my room mate again calls me from the kitchen. She went to drink a glass of water and the snake was trying to find way to go out. This time, I too was able to see the snake. Yes, I believed there's a snake inside in the kitchen. Seeing the snake, I thought it is a Rat Eater snake. And my room mate left a sigh of relief and says "Thank God! I'm not a fool". For some time, she thought she might have visualized about the snake.

We approached the watch man again. He was sleeping, and said let's look at it tomorrow. What do we do whole night and the snake is inside. We called Hariharan again and he says he's sleeping and won't be able to come. We browse for all contact numbers of snake catchers around Sarjapur Road. We find a contact Privthvi K and o luck. The number does not exist. Trying hard to find a contact nearby Sarjapur road with no luck, we find a number from the adventure group and he suggests to a person called Jayaraj.

We called Jayaraj, he was awake and seemed to be enthusiast when we told him there is a snake in our house. He assured he would come, but it would take around 45 minutes. We agreed and until the snake catcher arrived, the Watchman and the house owner was guarding the snake. By then, they had told it seemed to be a cobra which was hiding in the corner.

In an hour or so, the Snake Catcher arrived. He had 2-3 snakes which he had caught yesterday. He directly entered the kitchen, took out his torch. Torch was must in case if the power goes off when he catches the snake, it would lead to snake bite to any one of us. As he spotted the snake, he said it is a spectacle cobra. He caught the snake in few seconds time. Bravo..Awesome!!! He caught it's tail and got it to the hall. The snake was jumping up hissing on the snake catcher. He bravely, put the snake inside the cloth bag. Relieved for a moment. We paid 750Rs to the snake catcher. All went back to their homes.

Now, what do we do? We did not get the courage to go back and sleep inside. We sat there for sometime and decided to take our blankets to the terrace and sleep off there. Trying to sleep, chill breeze at the terrace, looking here and for any crawling creatures. We were just waiting for the dawn. What an experience!

Jayaraj says that he has caught the snakes even in the 4th or 6th floors. Snakes can crawl through the stairs, it can be inside the boxes when we shift some things, it could have been in the car or bike and entered the house. It can just enter through your main entrance. So, be careful, keep the doors closed, keep the house neat - away from cockroaches or rats, during rain the snakes come in searching for warm place. Above all, don't harm them if you harm then they will also harm you in return. If you find them, just call the snake catchers, they'll be available at least some of them.

9 May 2010

Happy Mother's day mom. Your the best person in the world. Today, what I am is just because of you. You have supported me every time. You knew when I was wrong and when I'm right, when to scream at me and when to support me.

Love you always!

Happy Mother's Day! May all of you mothers out there have the most blessed day ever.

26 April 2010

Yesterday, I was shopping at the Total Mall and I was in the queue for my billing. I was unsure that I would be going for shopping groceries or somehow it skipped my mind to carry my grocery bag!

I was done with the billing and I was all set to come out with 3-4 PLASTIC BAGS. Somehow, I felt ashamed as a couple behind me, started screaming "NO PLASTIC BAGS PLEASE, HELLOOOOOO NO PLASTIC BAGS PLEASE! WE HAVE GOT OUR OWN BAGS!!!". There are people who take the effort to carry their own bags, whenever and wherever they go. I really appreciated the couple there.

As I walked out from the second floor, I could see a man who had filled two bags (Cloth Bags) full of groceries. I felt happy to see at least two people carrying their own bags and made their contribution in saving the planet earth. Hats off to such people!

23 April 2010

On the eve of Earth Day 2010, I was watching the earth day special documentary on reducing carbon emission - "Cutting Carbon Footprints" - in National Geographic Channel. A documentary that reminds all of us that we have a moral & social responsibility to planet Earth, and that we have to do our best to reduce carbon emission & leave a healthy planet for generations to come.

What caught my interest in this documentary is about a wonderful project that is occurring in Bangalore. A company is Bangalore has begun to add shredded plastic waste to road-laying materials. This morning I was browsing regarding this subject and I got to know some pro's and con's on this project.

What are the benefits of Plastic roads?

A company by the name of KK Plastic Waste Management Co. has begun to add shredded plastic waste to road-laying material (asphalt).

Plastic roads can better handle the pressure of incessant traffic and, most importantly, the harsh sun, pounding rain and other quirks of Indian weather.

More importantly, these "plastic roads" make use of tons of plastic waste. It is handy in disposing the tons of waste plastic that Bangalore’s residents produce daily.

Bangalore alone generates roughly 40 tons of plastic waste each day, or enough for about 25 miles of road. The project is off to a great start - so far 800 miles of sturdy city roads have been built, and the city has been rid of 4,000 tons of plastic waste.

Fortunately, rag pickers (trash collectors who are some of the poorest people in India) are paid to find plastic trash.

Shredded plastic binds the road material, cutting down on the need for constant repair. Since plastic is water resistant, there is less damage during heavy rains which account for the bulk of the damage to roads.

This project has allowed roads to become sturdier, plastic waste to be reduced, and it has proven to be a great way to employ people.

So far, the plan seems to be working.

What is not being considered is the degradation of plastic materials into smaller particles overtime. What happens when particulate plastic matter ends up in our water supply and is ingested by animals and human beings. Have you looked at research on this. Is anybody paying attention? Plastic as we all know does not degrade and the evidence is in our oceans whereby marine life is being heavily impacted by presence of plastics particulate matter.

Are we are creating another environmental disaster ten years down the lane?

22 April 2010

# Turn off the lights - Turn off all electricity for one hour. Light a candle and spend quality time with family and friends

# Pick up the garbage - Spend some a couple hours picking up litter at your local river

# Walk, ride or bike Skip the car! Walk, bike, or take the bus to work

# Skip the Steak - Give up meat for one day

# Save Paper

My thoughts on earth day 2010...

Climate change has become a greatest challenge for us at this time. But as the climate changes, it also gives us a chance to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy for now and for the future. At least if we all contribute in reduce, recycle, reuse mantra and make people aware of the green movement going around - we'll be successful in saving the planet earth.

Few things to note:

·Say NO to plastics - Take a shopping bag when you go shopping. Make it a point that you never leave home without a shopping bag.

·Purchase fresh food without packaging

·Save Paper - Hit the print button only when it is really required. For example, instead of printing your travel itinerary and every other travel document, load them to your phone. Saves paper, ink and electricity that'll be used to operate the printer!

·Save Water - Be really conscious about how much water you’re using for washing, Bathing, Shaving etc. Those extra couple of minutes in the shower could be using up clean water that’s needed in the local area. Make it a point to close the tap when you shave or brush. Specifically men keep the tap open.

·Always take your own water bottle from home. You save money and plastic use.

·when eating foods with small wrappers and there's no dustbin around the area, throw it when you find a dustbin.

·Take public transportation or walk/bike/cycle

·Minimise carbon footprint that we leave behind

·Small actions from a collective of individuals can make a big difference in the long run.

14 April 2010

A well known Japanese proverb reads... "One kind word can warm three winter months."

A word, an action, one simple flaunt of warmth is more than you can ever imagine to someone. From saying Good Morning wishes to volunteering on any good task, there are number of ways to pass along kindness. The little things in life, which in fact end up being exceptionally priceless!

Most people want to make a difference, they're just not sure how. Luckily, there are many simple and easy ways to make a difference in your local area.

This morning I was browsing for random acts of kindness and here are few:

1. Smile - Sometimes, all it takes is a smile to a stranger. For example: to sales people, cashiers, delivery people, waiters/waitresses and the like. They always get nothing but the best smile which really seems to make their day, smiling is free and it never hurts.

2. Words - Speaking a word or two, cracking a simple joke, asking few questions like ‘How are you doing today?’, ‘Had your lunch?’, ‘Greetings’, ‘Asking for their name’ will make someone feel good amidst their hectic and daily routines.

“During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. àJoann C. Jones”

3. Compliment - Find one good thing about everyone you come in contact with, and complement them on it. Comment on the character attribute, not looks.

4. Kindness - Do one act of kindness a day, to someone who you wouldn't ordinarily do it.

5. Patience - Have more patience with people. Listen to people who need someone to hear them.

I also came across these commitments which we can imbibe in us to make this world a better place, one person and one day at a time.

1. When you have a good idea, or that feeling in your gut that tells you that you have to do something, just do it and don't question yourself.

2. Try to go a whole day without thinking one negative thought, only good thoughts about everyone and everything.

3. Keep a thankfulness journal, and write all the things you are grateful for, everyday. You'll be surprised in the little miracles in your life.

4. A greener planet. Why not start now, by making sure our planet will be happy and healthy enough?!!

5. Mediation and Yoga. This is a personal suggestion to me because I truly believe I need it. (and I think it will help with my patience!)

6. READ & WRITE. KEEP READING & WRITING.

7. To never hold a grudge, you never know how little time you have left with someone.

8. To always be thankful for what I have and to not be wasteful, someone always has it worse off than me.

9. Kindness and sincerity makes the world go round so to be kind to those I care about and those I don't. One act of kindness can change a person's life.

10. Be grateful for those in my life, you don't have to have a lot of money to be a rich person. If your surrounded by those who care about you and who you care about in return, you are extremely well off.

11. Reduce, recycle and reuse. Don't waste!!!

12. Most importantly DO NOT WASTE FOOD!!! Like everyday, I prepare what is more than required, I order for more than required and the leftovers are into the garbage bags. We need to think of the people who do not get food to eat!!!

13. Do not negatively compare yourself with others. Everyone has their unique gift and appreciate the goodness in you.

14. Unplug all the random house hold objects that really don’t need to be plugged in constantly as in: cell phone charger, Computer, Hairdryer, Radio, Lamps, toaster, Coffee maker etc. Always make sure to switch off the lights when not in use. Switch off the mains when you leave your house. Turn off the gas when not in use.

20. Reduce your footprint...It's little things like this that make the world a better place.

9 April 2010

It was a pleasant surprise for anyone who has tasted Natural Ice Cream which was originally found in Mumbai, to see the billboards that Naturals was going to be an addition in Bangalore. The opening of a Natural Ice Creams parlour in the first week of Feb in namma bengaluru was completely welcomed...

All the available fresh seasonal fruits turned to sweet, milky, frozen desserts. The ice creams here are natural, rich, creamy, smooth & it make u forget the guilt that comes along with eating ice creams... Almost every flavour is delicious and worth a try but the ones to note are Tender Coconut, Sitaphal, Mango, Lychee, chickoo and choco-bite. You can even taste them before making up your mind to buy. The waffle cones are freshly baked right in front of your eyes. A scoop of most flavors costs just 32 Rs! They also provide take away and home delivery facilities up to 1 KM.

Everyone who've entered this parlour has walked away with a smile on their face that only ice cream can bring. All in all, Natural Ice Creams is FANTASTIC.

This is just the perfect place to go to on a summer evening (or late night) for your sweet tooth craving. They have got to have something to satisfy the craving!!!